A.M. Greenlist: Bicycling angst, Kleer-cutting hacks

>> The City of L.A.'s bicycle master plan meetings are inadequate, according to some cyclists. LADOT Bikeways and Planning planned only four public meetings and gave the public only three weeks notice -- so cyclists are planning a “Storm the Bastille” ride tonight to "address the City’s failure to engage the community in the Community Input Workshops."

>> The battle continues over state transportation money. Schwarzenegger's administration wants to use public funds to help two private railroads pay for a $198 million rail project, while five SoCal counties argue for other road, rail and bridge projects. The transportation commission is scheduled to decide what gets the money on April 10.

>> "Long Beach harbor commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a clean-air plan that continues to place the burden of owning and maintaining diesel big rigs on drivers rather than on shipping companies that hire them." Earlier: Cleaning up the ports is controversial business.

>> Santa Monica's bag ban and tax hearing got postponed due to lack of time, but five of seven council members say they support drafting an ordinance to ban plastic and bio-plastic bags and charge a tax for paper bags. The issue's now expected to come up at the Feb. 26 or March 11 city council meetings.

>> Greenpeace infiltrates Kleenex boxes, putting in notes that read "Wiping away ancient forests." (via Grist) Greenpeace has been at war with Kimberly-Clark for years; watch this funny video where Greenpeace activists infiltrate a Kleenex ad shoot.

>> Good 4 Girls wants you to make or buy reusable menstrual pads to donate to African girls in the villages of Uganda. Read about similar programs, covered by the NY Times.

Photo courtesy of labikeplan.org

Comments

[m]

If Greenpeace has such an issue with tissues (or is it only Kimberly-Clark?), why isn't there any sort of effort to promote handkerchiefs, like all of the reusable bag efforts? If you take away the buyers of the products, doesn't that kinda force the market to change? Cloth handkerchiefs are softer and nicer on your nose than any paper tissue could be (recycled content or not), easily pay for themselves in very little time and you rarely "run out". You can find all types - organic, undyed, colored, new, vintage, with and without lace, in boxes or single. I've never had a red, burning, irritated nose using handkerchiefs and I have when using K-C brand Kleenex. Even if I had no environmental concerns, that would be enough to move me to cloth vs. paper.

[P. Munner]

Women in the US flush 100 million tampons down the toilet each month. Those tampons end up in the ocean.
No one really addresses this hidden pollutant to our environment.

Number 1: We need to advocate a biodegradable tampon and make it a law, just like we are to outlawing incandescent lights and plastic grocery bags.

Number 2: Flushing a non-biodegradable tampon down the toilet should be considered an act of terrorism against our environment. Wrap it up and throw it in the trash. Stop polluting the ocean!

[Siel]

m -- Greenpeace picks on Kimberly-Clark specifically because they're the largest tissue maker in the world. And unlike other companies that offer post-consumer recycled tissues, Kimberly-Clark uses "virgin" fiber from clearcut ancient forests.

Using hankies is a good idea too -- though honestly, I just use my 100% post-consumer recycled toilet paper. It's soft enough for me --